“The God who invites us to risk the new is the God of our past. We already have a story with this God. God’s names to Moses combine mystery and familiarity, what is known and what is still to be discovered, faithfulness to tradition and openness to the future.” Jessie Rogers
We are women of prophetic hope, we are committed to taking risks in the new because we believe that with the Lord’s help we are capable of venturing and committing ourselves to the unknown, even in faraway lands, as long as there are human lives that need to be saved, not only, but also to know and love the God of life. We need to continue to walk with courage, bringing us closer to the lives entrusted to us, following the example of Mother St. Jean, the foundress of the Institute, a woman of hope and courage who worked side by side with the Founder Father Jean Gailhac, saving lives that were at risk. She risked giving all her material and spiritual possessions so that the new, that is our beloved Institute, might be born. Therefore, we are called to identify with Mother St. Jean and risk what is new, leaving behind our usual habits, our culture, our comfort zone, and following a path that takes us to unknown places where charity demands it, because God is Father and will never abandon us.
We read in the prayer of preparation for the chapter “Open our eyes to see the future”, fill our hearts with courage so that we can risk what is new, confident that it is there that you are waiting for us.
Yes, God expects us to read the signs of the current times, to better find the answers, according to the needs of each place and each Human person.
We are women called to risk the new, being in an open attitude and willing to be itinerant, and take the first step, to encounter the silenced, oppressed, marginalized and abused human lives on the other shore.
Knowing how to take risks in the new as consecrated women is to identify more and more with Jesus Christ, who traveled through the villages, evangelizing and healing all kinds of human illnesses, it is to listen to the message of Christ who says: “Go to the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16, 15)
Therefore, taking risks for the sake of Christ has a different flavor and meaning in our lives.
Taking risks in the new is walking with faith like Mary of the Visitation when she hurriedly climbed the mountains to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the state she was in. She did not hesitate or fear but set out to help and share the marvelous work of God that was in each one of them. (Luke 1:39…)
Sr. Valeria Erneio (Heritage and Spirituality Group)